MattyC wrote on Mar 20, 2016, 14:26:

InBlack wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 15:37:
I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

If Blizzard North had been left alone it would have been Condor and Diablo likely would have been a very meh turn based game and thus no Diablo II or III.

Eh, I was talking about D3.

InBlack wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 15:37:
I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

If Blizzard North had been left alone it would have been Condor and Diablo likely would have been a very meh turn based game and thus no Diablo II or III.


Also I too still have my FZ-1!

Shok wrote on Mar 20, 2016, 10:45:
This question in a recent interview with Rebecca Heinmein explains the economics of why the 3DO failed if you are interested.

Great interview! Goes into some depth about why consumers now expecting and demanding extremely low prices is bad for the industry all-around, and why Steam sales did major damage. The past Steam sales seemed mediocre, and I think we need to get used to that for the reasons she details.

Rhialto wrote on Mar 20, 2016, 09:34:

sdgundamx wrote on Mar 20, 2016, 09:14:
As someone who was at 3DO

What was your job?

I have to go in person to the bankruptcy court in San Fran and spend about 50 bucks to fill in the paperwork and get the check released. Which is a problem since I no longer live in the U.S.

You got in touch and explained it all and that's really the only way? That suck...

Level designer. Brought in for Johnny Mosely Mad Trix 2, but that got cancelled a month after I arrived so I worked on Army Men Sarge's War until it went Gold. Then I switched to external development, where I was working on a cool spiritual successor to Herzog Zwei using the Army Men universe (using a helicopter to transport troops around the map instead of a jet, no transforming though). We had just gotten the prototype up and running when everything hit the fan.

Yeah, my paycheck is in custody of the state and considered unclaimed because they sent it to an address I hadn't lived at in almost a decade and of course it got returned to sender. Last time I checked about 2 years ago, there was no way to claim it online. Forms needed to be requested in person from the court handling the bankruptcy. Some day I'll vacation in the Bay Area and get it done, but not anytime soon.

This question in a recent interview with Rebecca Heinmein explains the economics of why the 3DO failed if you are interested.

This comment was edited on Mar 20, 2016, 10:50.

sdgundamx wrote on Mar 20, 2016, 09:14:
As someone who was at 3DO

What was your job?

I have to go in person to the bankruptcy court in San Fran and spend about 50 bucks to fill in the paperwork and get the check released. Which is a problem since I no longer live in the U.S.

You got in touch and explained it all and that's really the only way? That suck...

Rhialto wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 13:19:
Now I know who killed the 3DO... I still have my FZ-1.

As someone who was at 3DO when it imploded I can tell you exactly who killed it--Trip Hawkins. Bastard green lit shit projects, put people in charge of projects who were more ego than talent, and lied through his teeth until the day we got thrown out of our offices--for example assuring everyone we'd get our final paychecks on time. Took bankruptcy court 7 years to issue them and still haven't received mine because they sent it my address from 10 years ago instead of current address. Now to get it I have to go in person to the bankruptcy court in San Fran and spend about 50 bucks to fill in the paperwork and get the check released. Which is a problem since I no longer live in the U.S.

Tl;dr Fuck Trip Hawkins.

nin wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 16:47:

Nucas wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 16:29:

InBlack wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 15:37:
I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

i think the game is in a pretty complete state now. have you checked it out recently? i never played it at launch, only heard the stories..

D3 is in a great state now. The last few patches have added all sorts of new content, which is nice. I can't play it for months straight at a time (I couldn't do that with d2, either), but it's great for popping in a week or two here and there.

Totally agree. Having a blast with it in Season 5. Launch was a total shitshow (from what I hear--didn't start playing until Season 4) but have to give credit to Blizzard to their commitment to continue to improve the game with new areas and mechanics (i.e. Kanai's cube, Kadala, new set mechanics, etc.) years after the game shipped.

Nucas wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 16:29:

InBlack wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 15:37:
I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

i think the game is in a pretty complete state now. have you checked it out recently? i never played it at launch, only heard the stories..

D3 is in a great state now. The last few patches have added all sorts of new content, which is nice. I can't play it for months straight at a time (I couldn't do that with d2, either), but it's great for popping in a week or two here and there.

InBlack wrote on Mar 19, 2016, 15:37:
I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

i think the game is in a pretty complete state now. have you checked it out recently? i never played it at launch, only heard the stories..

I wonder what D3 would have been like if Blizzard North had been left to it's own devices and allowed to finish the game. I guess we will never know *sigh*

Now I know who killed the 3DO... I still have my FZ-1.

Lots of interesting Diablo trivia in this article. I can definitely believe that Battle.net ran on one computer